Bedtime story

Sometimes I have to tackle both girls in order to get a bedtime story in. 

Tonight, that tackling took place next to the fridge.

Now let's just hope they sleep through the night...

Welp, that didn't happen.

It's Thursday. I said the giveaway would be up today. Yeah, that's not happening. I don't want to make excuses, but this week has been a little crazy. Between my girls not sleeping, to a neighbor in the hospital and her girls spending lots of time at my house, to the bajillion loads of laundry I've done, to me trying to be domestic and start planning/cooking meals, to basically me simply having no time, the review part of the giveaway isn't ready. So yeah, sorry people. It's just not happening yet...

In other news, wanna know what the girls are being for Halloween?
 

  

  

Completely cliche and completely adorable.
We had our ward Halloween party this past Saturday and the girls looked darling.
Pair these outfits with the pumpkins I got them and I'm thinking they'll score a pretty decent stash of candy.
Good thing they're too young to protest sharing it with me.

She pulls this face a lot.

 

Blogging is sparse when

• Your twins are waking up every few hours in the night. Last night, at least one of them was up from 2-5 am. It was awesome.
• Your twins won't stop crying when they're awake. I'm pretty sure they're over me. Nothing I do works, but when someone else picks them up, or gives them food, they're golden. Yep, I'm officially the uncool mom. 
• Your twins somehow manage to take every single article of clothing off the hanger in your closet in the minute and a half that you were in the shower. That too was awesome.
• Your twins decide that the only acceptable place to play is outside or in toilets. They've always liked being outside, but they've never thrown tantrums like they have been lately over not getting to play outdoors. Because of that, they find tricky ways to get into bathrooms and have figured out how to lift the toilet lid. *sigh*

So that, ladies and gentlemen is the reason why my blog has sucked lately. I guess I've been apologizing and making excuses for it for a while, but it's true...I just don't have time. BUT there's something cool coming soon. Giveaway kind of cool. I just have to set aside a little time to put it all together and then it will be up. I'm hoping Thursday. Yes, check back Thursday.

I'm only 23, but I'm pretty sure this twin thing is going to make me start sprouting some gray hairs soon.... Heaven help us. We need it.


 A completely unrelated picture, but whatever, it's babies riding a dinosaur. That's cute.

Pumpkins and books

I bought the girls plastic pumpkins last night and got them out this morning to see if a new "toy" would make them happy.

Sophie's ponytail is evidence of how the girls treat each others hair.

Lillian went crazy. She started laughing, screaming and ran right for the door.

 I discovered that she's got quite the Halloween "game face".

She was grunting and breathing super heavy. It was hilarious. I think Sophie got jealous of me laughing at and taking so many pictures of Lillian, so she decided to plop herself right in front of the camera.

After Lillian realized I wasn't taking her outside, she defeatidly (is that even a word???) sat down to read a book. 

   

In a little over a week, the girls can really get dressed up and knock on a few doors. Yep, we're totally taking them trick-or-treating.

I am so excited. 

My photographer crush.

Remember Sharon, who took our wedding pictures and beautiful family pictures when the girls were 6 months old? Well, she has quite possibly the coolest giveaways ever. This one is especially great if you live in Northern Utah, BUT even if you don't, and know someone in Utah, you could still get some awesome stuff and then you've got a couple of awesome gift cards to give away. Like FIFTY dollars to Great Harvest in Layton. Seeeeeriously? That's awesome. Plus, there's a bunch of other stuff to win. Go here to enter. And check out Sharon's website  while you're at it.

Truthfully, I'm pretty picky about photography and there are only a handful of photographers in Utah that I actually like (which is saying something because there are about 5,000,000 "photographers" here) Sharon might take the cake for my favorite. She shoot 100% in film (which takes SO much talent) and is completely dedicated to her work. She's studied with the famous Johnathan Canlas and describes her love for photography here.

Sharon is the one who taught me how to really use my camera. If you like the pictures on this blog, you have her to thank. So be sure to check out her giveaway  and be sure to bring me a yummy loaf of bread if you win. 

 Images all by Sharon. Sorry, I was just going to post one, but they're all freaking adorable.

Bath time pictures...again.

Bath time pictures never get old to me. From their very first bath (this post wasn't from then, but it has pictures of their first baths) until now, I'm pretty sure I've documented at least 70% of their baths. It's perfect because they're stuck in the tub and they're usually pretty happy. Although, lately they've been liking baths less and less, which sort of breaks my heart.

Anyway, here's a few of the latest bath pictures.

 

  

It also breaks my heart when I think about the day when they won't want to bathe together. You know, they won't want their sister to see them nekked and they certainly won't want their mother photographing them while in the tub. I know that day is probably just around the corner, so that's why I have to take advantage of it now.

And sorry for the boring blog lately. I'm running out of steam. Don't worry though, something exciting is coming soon. Yeah, that's right. Something exciting is coming your way as soon as I get around to it. :)

Sephora bag in one hand, sippy cup in the other.

Wednesday morning, I found myself at Sephora. I left my phone at the mall the night before and blah, blah, blah...I ended up at Sephora. I started looking at makeup that I personally think it way over priced. I took a glance over at the other double stroller and realized it was a snap 'n go. A double one. Those things are only used by twin moms. I instantly knew that if there were babies in a double snap 'n go (aka infants in carriers), there was a 97% chance that an exhausted mom was the owner. Sure enough, a new mom of girl/boy twins was the one pushing it. As we made small talk (how long did you carry? Does it get easier? What are you doing now that they're walking?) I had one of those full circle moments.

I don't think I ever blogged about the lady I saw at Walmart when I was pregnant, but basically, I was GIGANTIC and pacing the baby clothing when a mom with two car seats in her cart started looking at clothes next to me. I glanced over and instantly started tearing up. She asked how far along I was and I responded with 25 weeks or something and her eyes got big. I then said I was having twins she came and hugged me! She talked to me for at least 20 minutes and assured me that everything was going to be alright in spite of my massive list of doubts. It was little moments like this that I cherished and still do cherish.

So there I was with this new twin mom. She said that she specifically came to Sephora to get her makeup done so "she could feel human again". I laughed a bit and said sometimes I felt the same way, but that I usually don't {OK, never really} pay more than Cover Girl prices for makeup. We browsed around for a bit while she picked my brain for any pieces of advice that I had. We talked for a few more minutes and we both talked ourselves into spending a little money on ourselves. I ended up getting some Smashbox eyeshadow and she got some foundation. Beyond that though, I saw a little flicker of hope in her eyes. OK, I know that sounds cheesy. I actually chuckled as I typed it, but seriously guys... twins are hard work. I was hammered the first 4 months or so. I stalked every twin blog imaginable and spent most of my free time on the twin board on babycenter. This is the stage that this new mom was in. I could tell that I was her life saver for the day. I (and the super hot makeover she got) gave her that extra boost of confidence that she needed. Not that I did or said anything special, but she needed reassurance from someone who'd been there that life does get easier. 

For some reason, I can't stop thinking about this. I firmly believe that God puts people in our lives for reasons. Sure, we can be inspired where to go to school, or where to move, but also just the every day people we bump into while at the mall. I wish I would have gotten some sort of contact info from her, but I a) didn't want to be creepy like I was with Becky and b) ...see letter a. :) Really though, it was truly a full circle moment for me. It also boosted my self-esteem to buy ridiculously expensive eyeshadow. Vain? You betcha. But hey, I had two kids by the time I was 22. I'm trying really hard not to let my identity be stripped from me. Not just for my sake, but for the sake of my girls. It's a constant battle/identity crisis I have with myself and overpriced makeup helped it a little bit. 

So there I was with a Sephora bag in one hand and a sippy cup in the others and I realized just how blessed I am. I realized how much I've accomplished and grown over the past 14 months (or really since two Christmas' {Christmases? What's the correct form of that???} when I found out motherhood was just around the corner for me). I realized that you can still be a mom and splurge on yourself every once and a while and that you can reassure someone else that they too can make it. 

And on a side note... the eyeshadow is pretty amazing. I'm not used to only needing a tiny, tiny bit for each eye because I'm used to the sheer, crappy stuff apparently. Let's just say I've had to relearn how to do my makeup. That's right, I'm playing with the big girls now. ;)

And just because I know many of you folk come here to see pictures of the girls...

Oh and by the way, the pj's from the last post are from Walmart. The boy's department, specifically. :)

And this brings another question. How should I be answering questions that come from blog comments? I never know! I have several that I need to address, but never know if I should go to the persons blog (although, sometimes its not listed so that's not an option) or if I should comment on my own blog.... Thoughts? I don't want people to think I'm ignoring them!

Wordless-ish Wednesday

I've made mention of this before, but these girls love raspberries. Luckily, we have an amazing neighbor who has amazing raspberry bushes. She let the girls have a little sample yesterday and they loved it.

The blur in the bottom corner is Sophie's head...

 

Yep, they still love them.

An evening conversation part 2

 Britt: "We should go to bed soon."

Josh: "K. I just want to eat a cucumber first."

Taken at the Pumpkin Walk back in 2009.See more here.

And that is why I love him. 

part 1 {here}

14

These babies are 14 months old. 14 whole months. I feel bad because I've really slacked off as far as picture taking goes. Toddler twins are taking up FAR more of my time than newborn twins did. It's sort of crazy and over the past week or two, I've hit a few walls. Overall though, life is good and these girls are getting suuuuuper fun.

Sophie

 

 If I had to describe Sophie is one word, it would be moody. This girl has always been emotional, but she's getting worse in her advancing years months. She's either really, really happy or really, really grumpy.

Sophie sleeps really well. She sleeps straight through the night and will usually play in her crib for a half hour or so in the morning. I love it.

This girl is very conversational. She'll walk right up to you and in a very serious jabber, let you know what's on her mind. I'm pretty positive that she'll follow in her mama's footsteps and get lectured at school and church for talking too much....

Sophie is daring. Most of the time (as long as she's not sleepy and grumpy) she has no fears. Strangers, high places, loud noises, etc. She's very fearless. She's still not too fond of animals though. Our neighbor has a dog that's about the size of one of Sophie's legs and she's still freaked out by him.

Lillian

 

 Lillian is sleeping better...I think... I haven't gotten up with her since the night I got pulled over, but I know that's she's woken up a few times since, but I haven't really done anything about it. Apparently that's what I'm supposed to do? Just go in there, make sure she's Ok, but I let her hash it out on her own. She's only really cried once since then, but she still whimpers and whines in the middle of the night, but I'm learning to just let her fall asleep on her own.

Speaking of sleep. Its alarming how little sleep Lillian needs compared to Sophie. It usually takes her at least a half hour longer to fall asleep, she usually naps for a half hour-an hour less than Sophie and then she doesn't sleep through the night. It's really hard for me to not compare her to Sophie because I feel like they should be sleeping the same amount since they're the same age. Whatever. I'm learning to accept her lack of sleep.

Lillian is a screamer. Sophie is a screamer too, but Lillian is usually the one to start the screaming and turn it into a game. We took a video of it recently that I'll share soon. Lillian is definitely not always the follower.

 Lillian has the most adorable giggle. Sophie's is cute, but Lillian's is adorable. Its deep, hearty and her chubby little cheeks puff up so big. I absolutely love it.

 

 Photo by Lindsey Orton

Both of the girls have gotten really good at walking. They've recently taken up the hobby to walk backwards. It's hilarious, but they've had several spills over it. They obviously can't see where they're going, but will scoot backwards until they smack into or trip over something.

It's crazy how loud they are. They scream, shriek, and yelp louder and more frequently than any other baby I've ever heard. And I'm not just saying that, EVERYONE tells us that. People at grocery stores, people at church, people at parks, people at the bank, our family, our neighbors, everyone notices. So yes, we really do have loud children.

Its fun to see how much English these girls understand. They come when I call them, don't touch things when I tell them "no" and they are usually really patient when I let them know that I'm getting them a drink, or a toy, or whatever. They also know what 'bath' means and get really excited. I'm really hoping they don't have speech and language problems like a lot of twins have, so I make a conscious effort to talk to them as if they were adults. They aren't saying much other than a few variations of mom and dad, but I'm pretty sure they're understanding a lot more than what I give them credit for.

I know I say this every month, but the sisters are becoming better friends each day. They really like being by each other, most of the time they like playing with each other, and they giggle together every single day. It's very entertaining to watch them become best buddies.

People have always told us that if you can survive the first year with twins, you can survive anything. Well, I'm calling hogwash on that because so far, year two has turned out to be a bit more challenging. I have to have double the energy, double the patience and double to creativeness to keep these girls entertained. Some days it gets the best of me (like the other day when I had a break down in front of my neighbor...oops...) but most days, I absolutely love it.

I've learned over the past 14 months that I'm capable of a lot more than I ever thought I was. I've learned that the laundry and dishes can wait. And I'm starting to learn (even at this young age) that I need to pick my battles. It's crazy to me that these girls have only been in our lives for 14 months. I feel like they're my best friends who I've known for years. I get excited when I think about how one day we'll gossip about boys or that I'll teach them how to paint their nails. For now however, my immediate countdown will end in 4 months when they can start attending nursery at church. I'm pretty sure I'll throw a party on that day and invite the entire neighborhood. It will be a celebration for all because remember how loud they are?

Yeah....

I really think I'll cry when they're too big to do this. Putting them in the same swing is probably in my top 10 favorite thing about having twins.

Just because it STILL makes me laugh hysterically

Oh and this one too

For some reason, I really missed my babies today.

And no. That isn't an announcement or a hint at anything. 

This family of four is perfectly content for now.

I just like babies.

Just a little tip for everyone...

*I still can't get my old template back (I broke it this morning. Some of you may or may not have seen that post). Apparently you can't get stretch minima (I think that's what it was called...) anymore? That's a bummer. I'm sure I'll be playing around with my blog some more for a while, but for now, this will have to do. 

Here's the tip of the day. If you get pulled over by the police for going 47 in a 35, make sure both you and your baby are crying because your probability of getting off the hook increases. How do I know this? 

It just happened. Lillian's at it again. I tried consoling her for about 40 minutes before I decided to put her in the car. I had planned on driving until she stopped crying, but we only made it about 10 minutes away before we were both in tears. Not too long after that, the blaring lights of a police car started flashing. 

Great. Remember how the cops have already come to my house once this week?

The guy got out of his car, and I had lost it. Like lost it. Oprah calls it the "ugly cry". Lillian was past the ugly cry stage and was onto the "I'm screaming so hard that my eyeballs will probably pop out of my face any second" cry. The cop immediately noted how emotional we both were and asked if everything was alright. I said that everything was except that my daughter wouldn't sleep and that I was tired and stressed. I also threw in that I was sorry for speeding because I knew that that was the reason he pulled me over. He noticed both car seats and asked if I had another child. When I said that I have twins, he let out an audible gasp of what seemed like despair. He asked where the other baby was and I responded that she was at home. He responded with,

"Alone?"

I wanted to say, "No, you idiot. You think I'd leave my 13 month old alone at home? My husband is there who is also sleeping because he works crappy (although, in my super cool other world I like to pretend I live in sometimes, I wouldn't have said crappy. The word I would have used rhymes with kitty...) hours and it sucks. One of my girls refused to sleep and I wasn't about to wake up the sleeping twin just so she could join us on this lovely car ride."

Instead I said, "Nope. Her dad's there." 

He asked if there was anything he could do and let me know that he wouldn't be needing my license or anything. He offered to follow me home (that sound creepy typing it out, but it really wasn't creepy in the moment) and wished me luck. 

Thankfully, Lillian fell fast asleep a few minutes later and I was able to get her up to her bed with little issue. Really though, these night terrors are the worst. Luckily, I only have one kid with them (so far) and hopefully it truly is just a phase. I miss my sweet chinchillian.

Yes, that's one of the many nicknames we have for her. Embarrassing, right?
And we've got many more where that came from. :)

This is not a Wordless Wednesday

This post is long, wordy and probably not very interesting. 

You have been warned.

1. Sophie is capable of calling 911. I'm still not sure how she did it, but I got a voicemail saying, "This is the 911 operator. We just got a call from this number, but it sounded like a child playing with the phone. If this is an emergency, please give us a call back." I didn't call back because we weren't having an emergency and you always hear how you're not supposed to call 911 unless it is an emergency because it clogs the system and people who really need the police can't get through. So, I laughed a little bit, but didn't think much of it. Well, a half hour later, we got a knock at the door. It was a cop. Apparently, the have to follow up on every call they get, so he came over to make sure everything was OK. I was pretty embarrassed and explained that it was my 13 month old (although in a few days, they'll be 14 months! Crazy!) daughter and that everything was fine. I'm not quite sure he believed me because he asked me two more times if everything was OK and then scanned what he could see from my front door. My neighbor watched the whole thing from her window and made sure to come over and give me a hard time about it. :) I guess its good to know that if there was an emergency, 911 actually works. I was thinking about it though and say there's a murderer in my house and I'm able to dial 911, but for one reason or another we get disconnected. Sure they'll come, but not for several minutes. Do you know how many times a person could get murdered in a half hour? That's not so reassuring...

2. We went to Best Buy yesterday and saw a pair of twins about the same age as the girls. They were dressed in adorable gray/pink sweatsuits and they were adorable. I have this dilemma with dressing my girls. I think matching is cute, but I want my girls to be individuals, not a unit. Strangely enough, when they're dressed completely different, they sometimes don't get noticed as twins. When they're matching or even coordinating, they are easily spotted out of the crowd. I guess that's why you always see matching families at Disney Land. But we're not at Disney Land.  This is real life. Matching (in my humble opinion) all the time can be really cheesy. Sure there are lots of matching and coordinating outfits I have, but I also like them to be dressed differently. When they are dressed differently, I can't stand it when one is "cuter" than the other. If I have a certain dress that I want one of them to wear, I feel like I have to find an equally cute dress, so people don't think I care about one more than the other. How ridiculous is that? Seriously, I spend more time thinking about what my daughters are going to wear than I think about it for myself. Yep, I've turned into that kind of mother...

3. I know I say this every semester, but school is kicking my butt. I simply have zero motivation to do anything. I'm such a better student when I actually have to get out of pj's, walk up to campus, sit in a class, take legitimate notes, and study for a test. Online classes are horrible, especially without roommates or friends who are taking classes that can motivate me. My already pathetic motivation level is rapidly diminishing. So...who wants to finish getting my degree for me? :)

5. I'm not sure what's up with Lillian lately, but she's not sleeping. A few nights ago, she woke up around midnight and would not go back to bed. She was terrified. Her screams were not hunger screams, not sad screams, not pain screams. They were terrified screams. Her heart was beating so fast and she was hysterical. We brought her into bed with us and tried to calm her down, which just woke her up more. She did calm down, but she was ready to play. I knew that the only thing that would work was a car ride. So, I strapped her in and started driving. I decided that I would drive until she stopped crying and not turn around until then because I wanted her to be in a deep sleep when we got home. I started driving and ended up...at our old apartment. She cried for over 20 minutes in the car, on top of the 30-40 minutes that she cried at home. It was CRAZY. I didn't get home until 1:30 in the morning. Like I said, I think she's having nightmares. Babies this age can get those, right? She wasn't hungry, didn't want milk, she's not popping any teeth that I can feel, but she clung to her stuffed animal tighter than I've ever seen her do. She was scared. So, we drove around for a little over 40 minutes as I sang to her. She was out like a light once we got home and ended up sleeping in until 9:30 the next morning. Seriously though, this kid sleeps an alarming amount less than her sister and its getting a bit frustrating for the mama.

6. While at Best Buy, I got a new camera. We sold our phones and got enough store credit to pay a significant amount of money toward a Canon Powershot. I've been using my Canon  Rebel pretty exclusively for the over two years and I'm still not used to using such a small, compact camera. I was nervous because I love the freedom that the Rebel gives me (although I don't know how to do everything on it like I should) and I was afraid that the point and shoot camera would be taking a huge step back. I really wanted one though because we got rid of our smart phones (they were falling apart, plus I wanted to simplify life a little bit. Too many distractions...) so I wanted something that I could throw in my purse and be on my way. Well, I love it. I had done a little bit of research on compact cameras before I went in and I knew that Canon made really good point and shoots. I must say that I agree.

 

I'm impressed if you made it through all of that. This post was definitely more of a journal style post, filled with things that are on my mind that I want to make sure I remember. So...yeah...

On a Tuesday morning

Typical Sophie face

 

  

Lounging around with my girls and husband in our pj's is quite possibly my favorite thing to do. Sadly, our four day weekend is coming to a close. It was pretty good while it lasted though. :)

Photoshop Genius

This past Friday, I sat down at my computer to edit some recent pictures of the girls. We have photoshop, but all I do as far as editing goes is playing with the levels, curves, exposure, etc. Basically, I just make the pictures a little brighter and call it good. I really have no idea how to do anything else. So, I opened photoshop, loaded up a picture and then got a call from my Grandma. They live in California, but are in town this week for Conference. She said they had a little extra time and were pretty close to our house, so they wanted to come over. My house was pretty clean, but I still did the quick dash to make sure it was extra clean. So, I left the computer with photoshop up. Sophie apparently walked over to the keyboard and started pounding because a few hours later I went back to the computer and found this.

 

What the heck? She's a genius!
 

I laughed and laughed and laughed some more. How in the world did she pull this off? I've tried to make cool blog banners or picture collages and I fail miserably every time. But Sophie is able to somehow to create a bottle with their picture on it? 

Hilarious. Absolutely hilarious.

And just in case you're wondering, here's the original.

So not only did she stick the picture on the bottle (and seriously, where did the bottle come from????) she chopped the picture in half and flipped it so she's on the right side.

Really guys, I'm still laughing about it.

And I just clicked on the link hyper link attached to "Grandma" and then the link from that post (i.e. the post when I needed a grapefruit spoon)  and got a little giddy seeing that we were under contract to buy our house. People have requested pictures and I promise those are coming very soon. :)